Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja fixed December 12, 2019, to rule on an application by the former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe.
Okupe is facing 59-counts bordering on money laundering, criminal diversion of funds along with his two companies Value Trust Investments and Abrahams Telecoms.
The defence counsel, Akinlabi Akinbade while adopting the defence team’s no-case submission, contended that the prosecution had not satisfied the requirement of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt, that it failed to prove that Okupe acquired the money illegally as charged.
Counsel to Value trust Investment Ltd, Tolu Babaleye also asked the court to discharge the second defendant as it was not linked with the crime and has nothing to prove based on the evidence presented. Counsel to Abrahams Telecoms aligned himself with this argument and asked that it be discharged as no case has been established against the company.
Ibrahim Audu, counsel to EFCC, however, argued that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the defendants to warrant the court to invite them to enter their defence.
He added that based on the witnesses presented and evidence tendered before the court, there is a nexus between the criminal conduct and the offences which the defendants are charged.
